George Ripley October 3, 1802-July 4, 1880 Brook Farm Criticisms and Goals George Ripley was a Transcendentalist and broke off from the Unitarian theories that he once was apart of. Transcendentalism is under Unitarian thought, but still different as George Ripley said that miracles are not the basis of Christianity, but that it is intuitive instead of empirical, and that you don’t need proof to believe in a spiritual matter. Many people wrote to him about that and he would get into public arguments through writing. He was a founder of the Transcendental Club and the first meeting was at his house, this would bring many people into the like-mindedness of their thought for many years. The main thought of Transcendentalism was that society was poisoning the individual and that their potential was not being obtained. He wanted a classless society, with equal wages for everyone so that everyone is equal, so naturally he was against slavery, and for women rights. He believed that society works best when everyone works towards the community as a whole and the interests of the individuals is satisfied. Methods and Successes In the beginning stages of Transcendentalism he would write a lot about religion and thought. He would translate works from German and write for newspapers and published Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature. The biggest method was putting his socialist thought into practice and created the Brooke Farm with his wife. This was a utopian community spanning a lifelong activity of 7 years before it disbanded. He enacted equal pay, abolition of slavery, equality in age, gender, and social class. A lot of people there were happy with the life and the variety of what to do for the betterment of the community. A lot of other Transcendentalists supported him even though they did not like the farm. This is probably because they didn’t want to work as hard as they needed to. The children had the same education there as they did in private Boston schools. Financial crises caused the Brook Farm to collapse after a series of events of people leaving and complications from disease and fire. The school was the best part of the community, but parents withdrew their children throughout the years. Practicality of Goals The goals were very practical, but George and the community should have focused more on turning a profit and meeting the demands of money and debt. Considering the fact that the Brook Farm was successful in many ways it is basically proven that it was practical. George practiced Transcendentalism and Associationalism through Brook Farm and influenced lots of people and new ideals. Federal Support The federal government can support us by giving us financial help by paying us money as this was a large experiment that should be backed up and prepared for many blocks. The Brook Farm wasn’t turning a profit and was ahead of its time so money to pay off the debts would have been very helpful. They could have supplied us with an accountant of some sort to organize the money and profits. The houses could probably have been better for standard of living and problems with religion in the later years were unresolved because of the many religions so a law or a doctrine could have been placed that proclaimed that nobody was being discriminated against. References Being that George Ripley was apart of the Transcendental Club he had many team members and inspired a lot of people including women. Two of the most notable were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Henry visited his farm and did not like it, but they all supported it and had similar thoughts regarding religion and the community. They would still write to each other and were on good terms. Bibliography McEmrys, Aaron. "Brook Farm."Brook Farm. Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society UUHHS, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Ripley, George. ""I Believe in the Divinity of Labor": George Ripley Tries to Convince Ralph Waldo Emerson to Join Brook Farm, Boston, 1840." "I Believe in the Divinity of Labor": George Ripley Tries to Convince Ralph Waldo Emerson to Join Brook Farm, Boston, 1840. N.p., 1840. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
Robinson, David. "George Ripley."George Ripley. Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society UUHHS, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
October 3, 1802-July 4, 1880
Brook Farm
Criticisms and Goals
George Ripley was a Transcendentalist and broke off from the Unitarian theories that he once was apart of. Transcendentalism is under Unitarian thought, but still different as George Ripley said that miracles are not the basis of Christianity, but that it is intuitive instead of empirical, and that you don’t need proof to believe in a spiritual matter. Many people wrote to him about that and he would get into public arguments through writing. He was a founder of the Transcendental Club and the first meeting was at his house, this would bring many people into the like-mindedness of their thought for many years. The main thought of Transcendentalism was that society was poisoning the individual and that their potential was not being obtained. He wanted a classless society, with equal wages for everyone so that everyone is equal, so naturally he was against slavery, and for women rights. He believed that society works best when everyone works towards the community as a whole and the interests of the individuals is satisfied.
Methods and Successes
In the beginning stages of Transcendentalism he would write a lot about religion and thought. He would translate works from German and write for newspapers and published Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature. The biggest method was putting his socialist thought into practice and created the Brooke Farm with his wife. This was a utopian community spanning a lifelong activity of 7 years before it disbanded. He enacted equal pay, abolition of slavery, equality in age, gender, and social class. A lot of people there were happy with the life and the variety of what to do for the betterment of the community. A lot of other Transcendentalists supported him even though they did not like the farm. This is probably because they didn’t want to work as hard as they needed to. The children had the same education there as they did in private Boston schools. Financial crises caused the Brook Farm to collapse after a series of events of people leaving and complications from disease and fire. The school was the best part of the community, but parents withdrew their children throughout the years.
Practicality of Goals
The goals were very practical, but George and the community should have focused more on turning a profit and meeting the demands of money and debt. Considering the fact that the Brook Farm was successful in many ways it is basically proven that it was practical. George practiced Transcendentalism and Associationalism through Brook Farm and influenced lots of people and new ideals.
Federal Support
The federal government can support us by giving us financial help by paying us money as this was a large experiment that should be backed up and prepared for many blocks. The Brook Farm wasn’t turning a profit and was ahead of its time so money to pay off the debts would have been very helpful. They could have supplied us with an accountant of some sort to organize the money and profits. The houses could probably have been better for standard of living and problems with religion in the later years were unresolved because of the many religions so a law or a doctrine could have been placed that proclaimed that nobody was being discriminated against.
References
Being that George Ripley was apart of the Transcendental Club he had many team members and inspired a lot of people including women. Two of the most notable were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Henry visited his farm and did not like it, but they all supported it and had similar thoughts regarding religion and the community. They would still write to each other and were on good terms.
Bibliography
McEmrys, Aaron. "Brook Farm." Brook Farm. Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society UUHHS, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
Ripley, George. ""I Believe in the Divinity of Labor": George Ripley Tries to Convince Ralph Waldo Emerson to Join Brook Farm, Boston, 1840." "I Believe in the Divinity of Labor": George Ripley Tries to Convince Ralph Waldo Emerson to Join Brook Farm, Boston, 1840. N.p., 1840. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.
Robinson, David. "George Ripley." George Ripley. Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society UUHHS, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.